Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-06-08

THE JOLIET PRISON.
Interesting Facts Concerning the Repro
sentative Penal Institution of the West.

Interesting Facts Concerning the Reprc-
sentative Penal Institution of the West.
According to a writer in the GraDAx
Meas the Joliet Qll) penitentiary is built
in massive and substantial manner. and,
for beauty of architecture, far outranlzs
any similar institution in tho United
States. The cornerstone was laid in 1857,
but the prison as a whole was not com
pleted until 1859, the totaS cost of the
buildings and grounds amounting to near
ly S2rO00,OO0. Through the great prison
the city Of Joliet has acquired a world
wide notoriety which she would never
otherwise have possessed. 1t is conducted
on modern and humane principles, but
lie In the big pen is not n bed of roses, as
all who have experienced it can abundant
ly testify. The murderer or burglar is
kept constantly at work during the day,
with only a short recess for meals
and when night comes on he
Is locked in his cell, to remain
until daylight brings with it the same
Tonotouous drudgery ana surveilance.
With 1,6O0 of the most daring thieves and
cnt-throats that ever cursed a civilized
country under their charge, it is not pre-
sumed that prison officials should exh hit
much tenderness and impress the con-
demned that they are guests of the State
instead of lot of outlaws. Once in awhile
there is prisoner who deserves pity and
compassion, but the majority of the gang
at Joliet are vicious rather than unfor-
tunate, many of them old-timers, who
have "gone over the roadr time and time
again. Since 1888 nearly 5000 convict s
have been confined at Joliet Prison-the
receipts per year now averaging between
seven and eight hundred new arrivals,
fully twenty-five per cent. of them coming
Chlc1Un IA Of
who have been sentenced for life-since
Illinois became State-is 164, only oae of
whom was woman.
The front view of the prison is q ute i'm
posing The main or center building is
the Warden'S house, which contains the
ohces, the guards hall, commissioners
rooms, dining-rooms and officers sleep
ing rooms, the whole occupying four
stories, the fifth or top story being utl lied
Tor the female prison.
On either side of the warden's house ex-
tend the great dollhouse wings, each
three hundred feet long, giving the in
stitution frontage toward the south of
nearly one thousand feet The cells are
built in the form of bloczs-one in the
center of each wing, leaving a passage
way all around them some twenty-five feet
wide. The cells are made solidly of stone
and iron, not particle of woodwork
being used in their structure. Each cell
is eight feet deep, four and one-half feet
wide, seven feet high, and is arranged to
hold two men. A double iron bunk-ona
bed above the other-stands at one side of
the cell, the beds are made of
hIsk mattresses, straw pillows,
sheets and heavy wooden
blankets. The convict kitchen is in a
large building in the rear of the warden's
house, which building also contains the
prison chapel, the store-room, the bakery
and, at the north end, the prison ''sol-
itary' and punishment cells. The cooking
is done in great kettles by steam.
In the prison bakery a number of con-
victs were kneading dough at a brea J.
trough, larger than the body of lumber
wagon Other convicts were putting the
unbaked loaves into pans ready for the
oven. Fifteen barrels of wheat -four are
baked into three-foot loaves each day.
''We bake from twenty-five hundred to
three thousand pounds of bread each day.
explained Superintendent Banner, of the
kitchen; Gas yoI see, it is wits wheat
bread-tnece is none more wholesome. We
cook thousand pounds of meat for din
ner, and thirty bushels of potatoes, and
other articles in proportion"
The convicts' bill of fare is varied to suit
the seasons of the year: On Monday the
breakfast consists of bacon, gravy, bread
and coffee; all other days the breakfast is
composed of hash, bread an1 coffee The
dinners are made up of homny, fresh
pork, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage,
roast beef, potatoes ani gravy, etc, each
taking its place on the bill Of fare for GER
tain days of the week The supper
rations consist simply of bread aad coffee,
with sometimes bit of butter or mo-
lasses. Two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds of beef, one hundred and fiftv
thousand pounds of pork, ten thousand
bushels Of potatoes, four thousand bar
reis of -four, ten thousand pounds of cof-
fee, twenty-five tholsaad pounds of
bacon and eight thousand pounds of bat
ter disappear down the throats of the
sixteen hundred convicts at Joliet every
year.
Out of total of sixteen hundred con-
.victs there are hardly ever more than half
dozen sick in the prison hos Dital, which
shows that prison life is a healthy one
Many of the convicts are suffering from
incurable diseases when they arrive at the
prison, diseases contr acted during their
days of dissipation on the outside Con-
victs are permitted to write letter to
outside friends once in five weeks Paper
and postage are furnished by the peni-
SeRtiary.
On woody knoll, half mile east of the
prison, is the convict cemetery-an in
closure of some two acres in extent, com
pletely surrounded by woods. A wa gon
road starts from the eastern gate of the
prison, winds its way across the prison
farm ana up the stony bluff to the dismal
spot. During the past twenty five years
several hundred dead conyicts have gone
from the prison, feet foremost, incased in
plain pine coflins, over this road to an un-
honored grave-paTdoned out of prison by
grim death. On a pine beard is printed
the name, prison number, age and date Of
death cf the dead convict b. good be-
hayior while in prison every convict has a
chance to materially reduce his prison
term. The ''Gooa-tiIne" law grants to n
one year man one month of from his sen
tence Tor good conduct; a two-year one,
three moaths of; a three year one. six
months; four-year one, ten months, and
and a f1ve-year one, one year and three
months. After the fifth year each man
can gain six months on every year he has
TO serve.
1t is an interesting sight at half-past ten
on a Sunday morning to witness the CON
victs march from their cells TO the nrison
chapel The chapel is an immense hall.
one hundred feet wide and two hundred
and fifty feet deep, capable of seating
about sixteen hundred men Catholic
services are held every other Sabbath for
those of that faith.
In an Embarrassing Situation.
A rather comical adventure befell two
very stylish young American married
ladies the other day on the boulevards.
writes Paris CORRESPONDENT. They set ont